Legal Aid Eligibility and Coverage in Canada

In order to present the full content, this page exceeds our site's normal dimensions.

TABLE 2 - Applications for Legal Aid
Refused for reasons of:

British Columbia
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 41,697 28,702 69 12,995 31 .. . . . .
1998-99 39,523 28,043 71 11,480 29 3,141 27 8,339 73
1999-00 38,409 27,479 72 10,930 28 3172 29 7758 71

Alberta
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 24,802 20,646 83 54,410 4,156 17 1,937 47 2,219 53
1998-99 27,370 22,253 81 56,723 5,117 19 1,512 30 3,605 70
1999-00 29,019 23,378 81 60,700 5,641 19 1,595 28 4,046 72

Saskatchewan
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 17,662 16,550 94 8,340 1,112 6 848 76 264 24
1998-99 17,985 16,971 94 8,423 1,014 6 773 76 241 24
1999-00 17,858 16,419 92 8,354 925 5 712 77 213 23

Manitoba
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 11,429 7,959 70 1,292 11 83 6 1,209 94
1998-99 11,572 8,580 74 858 7 101 12 757 88
1999-00 11,838 8,871 75 1,003 8 108 11 895 89

Ontario
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 .. 54,890 .. 491,974 18,971 .. 3,535 19 15,436 81
1998-99 .. 61,250 .. 505,754 23,096 .. 4,040 17 19,056 83
1999-00 .. 62,054 .. 513,996 17,343 .. .. .. .. ..

Québec
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 96,917 77,071 80 17,009 18 7,048 41 9,961 59
1998-99 95,209 78,084 82 13,901 15 6,954 50 6,947 50
1999-00 95,625 77,525 81 13,681 14 7,626 56 6,055 44

New Brunswick
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 2,436 1,400 57 15,809 784 32 .. .. ..
1998-99 1,969 1,278 65 14,335 691 35 .. .. ..
1999-00 2,026 1,285 63 14,695 745 37 .. .. ..

Nova Scotia
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 11,499 9,718 85 134 877 8 315 36 562 64
1998-99 11,799 8,996 76 1,230 749 6 249 33 500 67
1999-00 15,653 9,745 62 4,507 833 5 344 41 489 59

Newfoundland
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 9,069 7,173 79 3,980 1,896 21 289 15 1,607 85
1998-99 8435e .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
1999-00 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

PEI**
Total Criminal Applications Received* Total Criminal Applications Accepted % of criminal applications accepted Duty Counsel Services for Criminal Matters Total Criminal Applications Refused % of refused criminal applications Financial Ineligibilty Other Reasons (coverage restrictions, lack of merit, etc)
Province/Year # % of total refused # % of total refused
1997-98 .. 1,193 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
1998-99 .. 1,019 .. .. .. .. .. ..
1999-00 .. 1,133 .. .. .. .. .. ..

The data reflecting applications apporived and refused will not necessarily match the total number of applications.
There are 2 reasons for this :

  1. Decision to accept or reject may not take place during the same period an application is made.
  2. The accepted and refused applications refer to full service applications, the total number of applications takes into account the summary services.
    ** Only counts of approved applications are maintained.

Source: Statistics Canada. Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. Legal Aid in Canada: Resources And Caseload Data Tables, 1999-2000. Catalogue no. 85F0028-XIE, August 2001.